A Man of the Biosphere
Alumni Spotlight: Vernon C. (Tom) Gilbert
Members of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology recognize and are proud of the long history of programs for conservation of natural resources and the promotion of human welfare that Tom Gilbert (BA ‘50, MS ‘52) has envisioned and led throughout much of the world.
In his long career, Tom served in numerous positions with the US National Park Service, including as chief of the NPS Environmental Education Program and as associate chief scientist for natural area preservation. He was project leader for joint NPS and US Agency for International Development (USAID) projects in India and Africa, was the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere coordinator for the US-USSR. Summit Agreement on Biosphere Reserves, was field director of the USAID Environmental Training and Management Project (12 country effort) and was the leader of the US delegation to the Third World Congress on Biosphere Reserves.
Tom’s contributions and achievements in natural areas conservation are long and significant. He worked for many years in Africa, India, and Central America where he planned natural area reserves and natural parks. He was pivotal from the earliest stages in planning and promoting UNESCO International Biosphere Reserves throughout the world, including the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park as one of the world’s first International Biosphere Reserves in 1976. Tom remains a leader in the Man and Biosphere program and is a founder of the Southern Appalachian Man and Biosphere (SAMAB) Cooperative. Most recently, Tom has led the SAMAB collaboration for the Conservation of Culturally Significant Plants with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, and he is working to engage EEB, Department of Forestry Wildlife and Fisheries, and the Environmental Science Division at Oak Ridge National Lab in SAMAB leadership.
Tom is and has been for a long time, a world’s leader in international conservation, the preservation of public lands, and human resource development. At 93 years of age, Tom remains a visionary who is actively and energetically engaged in conservation initiatives. Tom Gilbert is recognized with the 2021 UT National Alumni Association Award for Professional Achievement. EEB is in awe and proud of Tom’s achievements.
In 2020, EEB underwent a ten-year Academic Program Review to evaluate the entire program including our culture, and all aspects of the research and teaching missions of the department. The review committee (with folks from inside and outside of the university) noted that one of the “strongest cultural aspects of the department are its collegiality and collaborative spirit that infuses all they do.” 
During this past unusual year we have drawn on this collaborative spirit to help support one another and our students in many ways. With over a year of largely online learning, faculty and staff have helped each other navigate online teaching by sharing digital expertise, sharing slides and teaching materials, and supporting each other by checking in to see how everyone is doing. We have worked hard to support our students through creative methodologies for courses that may have normally been taught in person in the field or lab, by keeping in contact through virtual meetings and social events and increased communication and sharing of health, mental health and career resources. The excellence of our staff members have kept the main office productive and helpful, have maintained our research and teaching resources and collections and have found new and creative ways to support the department. Graduate students pivoted to teach online while also still figuring out ways to do research safely during a pandemic. Moreover, a motivated diversity committee has worked hard to educate and talk about critical social issues through a virtual diversity reading group to change and improve our understanding as well as create action plans to improve diversity and create a culture of true inclusion and safety within our community. 
While distancing, learning, and working in sometimes very challenging conditions in our homes, EEB has continued to be the collegial and productive department that was noted in our program review. We have graduated more than 45 undergraduate and graduate students over the last year, offered professional development and training for students and have taught all of our normally scheduled courses – even if the format was greatly modified – to prevent bottlenecks that might limit student success. 
Our research mission has continued and expanded with faculty and students working on reviews, new virtual collaborations, backyard experiments, and many other creative ways to create and apply knowledge in ecology and evolutionary biology. This year EEB students and faculty have 68 active grants from multiple agencies totaling more than $6 million (Professors Budke and Sheldon both won prestigious NSF CAREER awards), fellowships (Maryrose Weatherton won a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship), and national and local awards (Amanda Hyman won the Cheek Graduate Student Medal of Excellence, Professor Derryberry won Professional Promise in Research & Creative Achievement awards). The list is too long to include here, but we include here a list of all the award winners in the 2020-21 academic year. Our faculty and students have continued to publish important and high-profile papers. 
Laura Russo
For example, activity bags were built as a collaboration between Biology in a Box, McClung Museum, the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) for Darwin Day 2021. Previously, in-person activities were organized for a family fair on Darwin Day. The challenge in 2020 was to create an activity for kids that could be done at home. McClung Museum organized the concept and layouts while EEB and EPS faculty created the content. 
More than 120 Darwin Day activity bags were distributed through the local Boys & Girls club, which included students enrolled from Inskip Recreation Center, Norwood Elementary, and Deane Hill Center. Similar activity bags will be distributed through two local schools as an ongoing collaboration between McClung Museum and Biology in a Box. 
How did they do it?! Many people are asking how we managed the changes in teaching, research, and administration required to keep everyone as safe as possible while doing our jobs and serving our students. Instead of a quiet time of catching up on research and writing, members of our department used “spring break 2020” to become a hive of activity. Faculty and graduate students sprang into action and emerged at the end of the week with online versions of all of EEB’s spring term courses.